The more you get around Colorado this year the greater your chance of winning some cash.

Here’s the deal. ABATE of Colorado is doing a fundraiser, for the second time, where you can purchase ($15) a Colorado Statewide Tour 2012 Passport Book that lists 178 businesses, points of interest, events, and other things. Each time you go to one of these you document it–receipt, signature, photo, whatever–and at the end of the year you turn your book in. For every five points you have checked off you get one entry in a drawing with three prizes: $1,000, $500, and $250.

Now, we all know that the odds with a drawing are that you will not win. Although three somebodies in this case will win. So while winning would be sweet indeed, it’s only a remote reason for playing. The real reasons are two-fold: Discovering new places or revisiting cool places you’ve been before, and raising money for ABATE.

The first reason needs no explanation. Why should you care about funding ABATE? Well, it seems like every legislative session that some bill gets introduced that motorcyclists get very interested in. Some we like, some we don’t. If we like them we want to support them; if we hate them we want to fight them. ABATE is our proxy in that effort. No motorcycling group in the state has more influence down at the gold dome.

Enough about that. What are some of the spots on the list? Here’s a random selection.

• Corral Sports Bar in Brush
• Barbour Ponds near Longmont
• Beecher Island Battlefield south of Wray
• Sunset Inn in Pueblo
• R’s Pizza in Silver Cliff
• Hovenweep National Monument near Cortez
• All ABATE Campout near Ignacio Sept. 1-3
• The Bike Shop in Sterling
• Motobreck in Breckenridge

As I said, random. So how many of those places have you been to? Here’s your chance to go someplace new.

So I bought my passport book. I’ll be checking off spots any time I can. And who knows, maybe I’ll win some cash. But I’m not banking on it.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Weaker motorcycle sales expected in 2012

Biker Quote for Today

You can’t be lost if you still have half a tank.

Would you let these guys in your establishment, dressed like that?

As an aside, here’s the Biker Friendly Or Not page on the CCC’s website where they list establishments that sit on both sides of that fence.

The vote in this case was not strictly a party-line vote. With five Democrats and four Republicans on the committee, the three who sought to keep the bill alive were all Democrats but two Dems joined with all four Republicans to “postpone the bill indefinitely.”

I have to think this was another situation where the biker community, at least those of the cruiser persuasion, and the Republicans who they generally work in concert with, ran into some friction. They would seem to be opposing views of freedom, i.e., the freedom of business owners to run their businesses as they see fit vs. the freedom of individuals to dress as they choose without fear of retribution.

There was a time years ago when my buddies and I went out to a bar on our bikes and were denied entrance because we were wearing motorcycle jackets. No colors or anything, just jackets. We figured that was pretty absurd. And you can bet we’ve never been back to that bar.

On the other hand, “No shirt, no shoes, no service” is a common sign and people seem to accept that with no argument. So the issue would come down to how you write a law that goes far enough without going too far. You probably can’t, so maybe it’s just best to leave it alone. The government doesn’t need to make the rules on everything.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Virginia bill banning motorcycle-only stops enacted; federal legislation pending

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re becoming addicted to riding when you start putting your gear on in the morning, only to realize you need to take the cage to work . . . but you consider leaving your gear on to make the commute “more motorcycle-ish.”

Senate Bill 89, which would have eliminated Colorado’s Motorcycle Operator Safety Training (MOST) program, died in committee Tuesday. But the senators who wish to give reform efforts a chance to succeed made it clear they will vote differently in the future if the program is not fixed.

The idea that the program has problems was not contested by anyone. The only discussion was on whether to kill the program outright or first let those involved with MOST do what they can to fix it. On a party line vote, the majority Democrats on the committee voted for the latter while the minority Republicans voted to kill the program.

In arguing for killing MOST, Sen. Scott Renfroe, the bill’s sponsor, challenged the need for such a program and said it was an area in which the government need not get involved. Sen. Renfroe made it clear he supports rider training, pointing out that he himself rides motorcycles, but that he feels the program has outlived its usefulness.

Opponents of the bill expressed concerns that killing MOST could result in the loss of an annual $100,000 grant for motorcycle safety efforts from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. They also said that in talks with the Colorado Department of Revenue (DoR), DoR had made it clear that if MOST was killed, the department would no longer accept Beginning Rider Course certification in lieu of the department’s own testing of riders seeking to get licensed. Sen. Renfroe said he questioned whether DoR would in fact do that.

If DoR did do that, opponents pointed out, it would mean that the expense of testing, which is currently borne by the riders taking the courses, would fall on DoR, driving up government expenses.

Sen. Renfroe pointed to results of a survey conducted among riders who had taken the courses, saying that the riders themselves stated overwhelmingly that an increase in the price of the class would not have deterred them from taking them. Speaking for the Colorado Department of Transportation, which supported allowing time for the program to be fixed, Herman Stockinger pointed out that in fact, the survey showed that nearly 50 percent had said a $70 increase would indeed have caused them to reconsider. Seventy dollars per student is the amount that rider training is subsidized through MOST.

“That’s perhaps 4,000 plus people (per year) who wouldn’t have taken the training,” said Stockinger.

So MOST has a reprieve but it is not out of the woods. It is now up to those involved with MOST to put into effect the recommendations of a legislative audit report. And if those recommendations are not enacted, the next time this issue comes up the outcome could be very different.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Colorado motorcycle training program gets reprieve

Biker Quote for Today

It’s our job. Burnin’ gasoline, killin’ bugs, and wearing out tires! — StevenE Fristoe

This is all set in place because some years ago the motorcycling community asked for it. The general idea is that it is a good thing for everybody to have the folks riding motorcycles actually get some training so they can do it competently. The accompanying concept was that such a program could help to forestall proposals that Colorado institute a mandatory helmet law. That is to say, education and better riding skills do more to prevent traffic fatalities than wearing helmets. Or, to put it differently, crash prevention is better than having safer crashes.

Regardless of how you might feel about helmet laws, I don’t see how anyone can argue that it is not better to avoid crashing than to crash and not get hurt so badly.

The vehicle for this funneling of fees to rider training is Colorado’s Motorcycle Operator Safety Training program or MOST. MOST is now under attack, in some cases from organizations that originally supported its creation.

I could go on at great length with the history and background of what is currently going on, as ABATE of Colorado’s State Coordinator Terry Howard did with me, but I’ll give you the short version.

ABATE, Riders for Justice, some of the motorcycle clubs, dealerships, and others pushed for the training approach. Over the years the program was not given sufficient oversight and some problems developed. The Colorado Legislature this past year conducted an audit of the program and identified a number of issues. Several of those issues were immediately addressed and rectified and the rest will soon have been fixed.

In the meantime, however, new people have replaced the old, and in organizations such as the Colorado Confederation of Clubs (COC) which came into existence later, there is no understanding of the history of and reasons for the fees. Some of the previous supporters are now saying, “Why should we have to pay to reduce the cost for other people to learn to ride?”

In a twist that gives fits to Terry Howard, a Republican, the legislative audit committee was divided on party lines–with the Republicans being the ones she finds herself in opposition to. In the current anti-tax atmosphere, the Republicans on the committee are in favor of eliminating MOST and letting us keep our $4 and $2 fees. It is the Democrats who are saying, “The motorcyclists asked for this program, and for these fees to be levied on them, so let’s keep the fees and keep the program they fund.”

One other thing to keep in mind: If MOST is killed there is no certainty that the fees will be eliminated. We could end up paying the fees without getting the benefit.

The committee deadlocked in this past session, but it seems likely that Republican Rep. Marsha Looper, of Colorado Springs, will introduce legislation in the next session to kill MOST. This would be a good topic for all Colorado motorcyclists to learn more about, and then do what you can to educate your legislators, whether you support MOST or oppose it. Most of them don’t know anything at all about it.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
NHTSA proposes additional naturalistic motorcycle safety study

Biker Quote for Today

Statistics show that most solo motorcycle accidents are caused by a defective nut holding the handlebars.

I just want to pass along this information I saw in this month’s issue of ABATE of Colorado‘s Spokesman publication. It’s something they got from the Motorcycle Riders Foundation, and has to do with the statistics that so often are used to justify “fixes” for problems. Here’s what the MRF put out.

Possible Errors? When errors, omissions or inaccuracies are discovered in reports or statistics, it calls into question the integrity of results. Additionally, small numbers can be easily skewed by slight or seemingly insignificant variations. Furthermore, numbers may be exploited if uncharacteristic highs or lows are used as a baseline. None of these discoveries are intended to argue against helmet use, but rather to demonstrate that suggesting a helmet law is not the solution to motorcycle safety. Individual states need to maintain the ability to determine what measures best address the needs and desires of their residents as suggested in the National Agenda for Motorcycle Safety (NAMS).

FACT Comparison of studies is complicated due to varying criteria, wherein one report references riders, it is unclear if that includes passengers or specifically operators. Other papers may refer to the numbers of persons, crashes or vehicles intermittently. This can be quite confusing as the numbers are usually very close and are frequently compared in error.

FACT A Minnesota motorcyclist survived a crash only to be struck by a car while standing on the road attempting to flag down a motorist for assistance. This was subsequently counted as a motorcycle fatality.

FACT A Pennsylvania taxi driver, with multiple suspensions,was responsible for about two percent of the state’s total motorcycle fatalities when he caused a crash with three motorcycles and killed five helmeted riders in a single incident.

FACT Motorcycle fatalities dropped by 10% in 2009 and preliminary reports indicate that 2010 numbers will be further reduced by at least 2%. The Motorcycle Industry Council advises that sales of replacement tires were up by 6.1% in 2010, suggesting an increase in motorcycle usage. A decrease in fatalities despite an increase in exposure would suggest that motorcycle safety and awareness programs, specifically rider education courses, have been successful.

FACT The National Transportation Safety Board has investigated over 120,000 airplane incidents, over 60,000 surface transportation incidents, and just 6 individual motorcycle incidents in their entire 44 year history — Apparently enough investigation to warrant adding mandatory helmet laws for motorcyclists on their “top ten most wanted list.”

FACT According to preliminary data from the Governors Highway Safety Association, states that have a mandatory adult helmet law had 6 fewer fatalities in 2010 than in 2009, while free choice states saw a reduction of 74. The state with the single largest decline in fatalities (Texas -60) is a choice state and a state which requires helmets on all riders tied for the greatest increase (New York +24).

FACT FARS (Fatality Analysis Reporting System) continues to include “mopeds” in motorcycle crash statistics despite the fact that most states do not require registration of these vehicles. This practice skews the most respected method of measuring the effectiveness of motorcycle safety programs, which is the ratio of accidents, injuries and fatalities per 10,000 registrations.

For more information, contact Jeff Hennie, Motorcycle Riders Foundation, 202-546-0983, jeff@mrf.org

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Creating a comfortable, high-mileage motorcycle that carries groceries

Biker Quote for Today

She pulled out into his path. Classical modus deathus for a biker.

It’s 2011 and motorcyclists in Arizona are not legally permitted to lane-split. That’s only news because the legislature was in favor of allowing a test. The governor, however, had other ideas, and vetoed the legislation.

In Oregon it looks like it might be tried. The Governor’s Advisory Board on Motorcycle Safety held a public meeting on Nov. 19, 2010, and the hall was packed with motorcyclists speaking in favor. It’s up to the legislature now.

Lane-splitting, for anyone who doesn’t know, is when motorcycles ride up the middle between cars in two lanes. This usually only occurs in extremely slow-moving or completely stopped traffic. Except in France, of course. When my wife and I were in Paris some years ago we were amazed to see motorcyclists zipping not just up the middle but down the shoulder, along the dividers separating oncoming traffic, and all of this with traffic moving at full speed.

It was in the heart of Paris, though, where you could really see the sense of the idea. Every time a light turned red and traffic stopped, small motorcycles and scooters filtered through to the front and as soon as the light went green they were off! With quicker acceleration than cars, the two-wheelers were gone by the time the cars started to move and the cars just moseyed on their way. Riders in California, the only U.S. state where splitting is allowed, will tell you they cut half their commute time in that way. Each one of them also represents a car that is not on the highway creating even more congestion and smog.

I did have the opportunity to split when I was in California in October on the EagleRider media tour. On our last day we had come around the San Francisco Bay on the east in order to enter the city across the Golden Gate Bridge. We were making our way through Sausalito on city streets and cars were inevitably mixing in between our bikes. At a stoplight, I was the first of several riders behind a car, with more of our group in front of the car. The driver had left space ahead of her.

I turned to the guy to my left and motioned for him that we go around the car. He nodded and we did. Presto! A few more of our group were able to come around as well, the light turned green, and our partially reunited group took off.

Who knows when lane-splitting will come to any other states. California has been alone in this for a long time now. But maybe, if they give it a try in Oregon and it works out well, the dam may start to crumble.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Cyclepedia.com may be the wrenching motorcyclist’s best friend

Biker Quote for Today

It’s not a real sport unless you can die from massive internal injuries.

Rather than paraphrase it all I’ll just quote from the release:

The government safety group continues to deny that the recent drop in motorcycle fatalities could have anything to do with education and awareness, instead maintaining that that the decrease was a result of people riding less. However, the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC) reported that during the same time period, 2008-2009, vehicle miles traveled for motorcycles were up 6.8% or 27.6 billion miles in the U.S. The MIC also reported that tire sales, a unique measure of motorcycle use, were also up 9.6% in 2008-2009.

NHTSA also continued to defend their discriminatory practice of funding motorcycle-only roadside checkpoints, including their recent $40,000 award to Georgia’s Department of Public Safety. The idea is based on no science or research, but simply the notion that pulling every motorcycle off the road at the discretion of law enforcement will “save lives.”

Another interesting note in this broadly focused release is information on how the incoming Republican Congressional leadership relates to the motorcycling community. The MRF says that John Boehner (R-OH), who will be the next Speaker of the House, “has been a long-time friend of the MRF and ABATE of Ohio, and we look forward to continuing working with him in his new role.”

The MRF also notes that “The new chair of the powerful U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) will be John Mica (R-FL). Representative Mica has been a constant supporter of the MRF and all of our initiatives, as well as a very staunch advocate for ABATE of Florida.”

That bit about Boehner puts an interesting perspective on things. I know that for far-left Democrats, Boehner is seen as really evil. And yet if you’re a motorcyclist you have to think that maybe there’s more to him than just “evil.” It goes both ways, of course. Far-right Republicans also seem to see certain Democrats as pure evil. Gosh, maybe that’s not really true.

You’ll notice I used the terms “far-left” and “far-right” rather than just “Democrats” or “Republicans.” That’s to make the point that most Americans are much closer to the middle than to the extremes, regardless of which party they’re affiliated with.

Excuse the political interjection into what is normally a motorcycle-focused blog, but just this morning I’ve been watching online the launch of an organization called No Labels, website www.NoLabels.org. The group’s basis is in pushing elected officials of both parties to put aside partisan bickering and do what’s right for the country. Wow, what a concept.

I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll stop demonizing your guy if you’ll stop demonizing mine. And then let’s both push them to get things done to get this country moving again, even if it means compromising with each other.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Holiday gifts for motorcyclists

Biker Quote for Today

Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today. –James Dean

We were coming down from the Black Hills and had been in Nebraska for about an hour when we stopped at a table along the road. There was another guy there, in a car, and we struck up a conversation with him. Along the way he mentioned, “This is a bucket state, by the way.”

Oh really? We hadn’t known that and we had been riding without helmets on. Oops. We had done the same thing a year or two earlier when we rode into Nevada for the first time. Somehow we got all the way to Las Vegas before we learned they required helmets.

Of course that was a long time ago, before the Internet, and we could be excused our ignorance. Back then it wasn’t easy to know what different state laws are. And if a state does require helmets, why the heck don’t they put up a sign at the border that says so?

There’s no excuse anymore for being ignorant of the laws in a state you’ll be riding to. The Internet does exist now, and one excellent place to check up on all states is a handy page on the American Motorcyclist Association’s website. You go there and there’s a map of the U.S. Click on the state you want to know about and it takes you to a listing of what they require and forbid.

The very first item on the list, presumably because this is the most common question, is the helmet requirements, if any. Other information includes the following:

• Safety Helmet
• State Funded Rider Ed
• Eye Protection
• Daytime Use of Headlight
• Passenger Seat
• Passenger Footrest
• Passenger Age Restriction
• Helmet Speakers
• Periodic Safety Inspection
• Mirror Left(L) Right(R)
• Radar Detector
• Turn Signals
• Muffler
• Maximum Sound Level
• State Insurance Requirements
• Handlebar Height
• Rider-Education
• Accept Motorcycle Endorsement From Other States
• Accept RiderEd Completion Card From Other States
• Motorcycles operating two abreast in same lane
• Lane Splitting
• Lemon Law Coverage

I’ll bet you didn’t even know that some states have requirements or prohibitions in some of these areas. Heck, you might even learn something about your own state laws.

Any by the way, the page also has separate legal requirements for off-road bikes. All in all it’s a lot of good information.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Fly and be groped or ride and have fun: Your choice

Biker Quote for Today

Remember when sex was safe and motorcycles were dangerous?

In a release today the MRF stated that the EPA has only sent letters requesting data to nine companies. This fact is troubling, the MRF says, for a couple of reasons.

First, it is not representative of the much larger motorcycling community that will be affected by changing the regulation, rendering the survey results questionable at best. Second, any time a federal agency wants to spend taxpayer money to survey a group of 10 or more individuals or organizations, they must obtain approval from the US Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The approval process isn’t easy and can often be drawn out, giving American citizens the right to weigh in on the agency’s application for permission to survey. However, when an agency only contacts nine organizations, they don’t have to tell anyone or get permission from the OMB to move forward on the survey, making the process lack transparency.

The MRF says it finds the focus solely on motorcycles “discriminatory and simply unacceptable” and it is “working with Congress to get the EPA to explain their intentions and motivations. The MRF is also working to meet directly with the EPA to further determine exactly is going on with this issue.”

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Tragedy at newest American motorcycle manufacturer

Biker Quote for Today

Let’s ban idiots, not the equipment they annoy us with.

I’m working on an article for RumBum.com, and a series of articles for Examiner.com, on this topic and apparently the truth of the matter is no one really knows for sure which pollutes more. Or to put it a little differently, which has the greater ecological impact.

Just to simplify the issue, two things are certain. Because motorcycles consume less fuel covering a specific distance than cars, motorcycles emit fewer of the pollutants that bear a one-to-one relationship to the amount of fuel used. At the same time, because most motorcycles do not have catalytic converters, the fuel is burned less completely and bikes therefore emit more of those pollutants. I read in one place that a motorcycle emits more of these pollutants in one mile than a Hummer emits in 100 miles. Wow. Even if that’s a huge exaggeration it’s still something to think about.

But there are other factors that have to be considered as well. Motorcycles use fewer resources to build (they’re smaller), they burn less fuel regardless of pollution levels, they do less damage to the roadway, and on and on. I know I’m not capable of balancing all these factors out to determine which vehicles are the greenest. And apparently no one else is, or at least no one who is capable of doing so has done so yet.

I checked with the American Motorcyclist Association to see if they had any authoritative information and they referred me to the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC). It turned out the MIC didn’t have any definitive info either. Cam Arnold, their VP for communication, told me that “Obviously it’s a big issue, and there are a million variables. When you start digging into it it’s a huge issue.”

So anyway, this blog is where I often give the back story on the pieces I write for other venues. Usually I do that after the fact, but this time I’ll telling the back story ahead of the rest. I don’t know where this will all lead but I’ll let you know once it’s done.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Motorcycle events to plan for this year

Biker Quote for Today

Sometimes it takes a whole tankful of fuel before you can think straight.